Blame It On The Jack
by redandyellowmarshandmellow
Summary: A possible aftermath of S1 E7 Voice in the Dark. Five just had a very close call, and Sam deals by getting hammered on Jack Daniels. One thing leads to another, but that don't mean that it don't mean much. One shot - Five/Sam - Gender neutral Five -
This is my first Sam/Five fic, so please be kind, not sure how it'll go writing gender neutral five but lets see.

I haven't been able to get this pairing out of my head, as well as 'I wasn't that drunk' by Josh Abbott Band which fully inspired this! Love this app and it's keeping me super fit. Spoilers for S1 Ep 7 Voice in the Dark - this is a possible aftermath.

* * *

 **Blame It On The Jack**

* * *

As the gates raised at the end of the longest and hardest hours they'd ever had to endure, Runner Five barreled forward through the gap, leaving the distant moans of the undead to be extinguished in a storm of echoing gunfire. Runner Eighteen had the gates closing again within seconds, and as the gentle murmur of Able Township's residents closed in, all Five could hear was their heart pounding in their ears. Their chest was on fire, legs and arms burning too, and their breath was ripping though their throat in shallow gasps.

"Move back, give Runner Five some room won't you?" a voice broke through the crowd.

A gentle hand moved over Five's back, and as much as it would be nice to think the only reason was for comfort, Five knew that those hands were checking for any signs of possible infection. Five also knew that the weapons that had just been taking down the shambling dead outside the gates were now intently trained on their heaving back.

"I'm fine Maxine," Five explained between gasps, "I wasn't bitten."

Maxine sighed, "I know Five, but we need to be cautious, you know that. Still, you look clean, you are very _very_ lucky _..._ Come with me. You can get your breath back in the infirmary and I can give you a proper check up."

Five rose to their feet, shaky and with limbs as heavy as lead they squinted in the darkness for the face that belonged to that familiar voice that had guided them home. Most of the township had risen from bed at the sound of the gunfire, and a handful had gathered at the gate to investigate the cause of such commotion.

Most, but not everyone.

* * *

Sam was drunk. Steaming really. From the moment Janine had gone to bed, pale and muttering very little after they'd lost Five on the scanners, right up until this moment, he had steadily poured himself whisky from a bottle that Simon (Or three) had grabbed for him as a birthday present on a supply run a few months ago. When Sam had thanked him for thought but tried to protest he wasn't a whisky drinker, (or much of a drinker at all really, a handful of freshers nights before the apocalypse where he'd collapsed on the sofa after three fruity cocktails had made that much clear), Simon had just slapped his shoulder and swaggered off. Sam had taken that to mean that this wasn't really a present, and truthfully, all Simon wanted was somewhere to store a batch of liquor so the major didn't find out he'd been collecting unnecessary items on supply runs.

But hey, happy belated birthday to him because now he was only 4 fingers of alcohol away from draining the bottle dry. As soon as those scanners had gone he'd known it was doomed. He'd already been through this three times, why on earth did he think for one second that this runner, his _fourth_ runner would stand a chance out there. So he'd started to drink, and then babble about ice cream cake rolls, and then drink, and then think waking Janine up to ask about ice cream cake rolls was a good idea, and then drink, and then talk about his parents, and then drink, then talk about Five, and then drink some more.

He'd given up hope the second those scanners had gone down, why he'd stayed he couldn't really say. But talking to the dead air until the last moment was surprisingly soothing, and imaging that Runner Five could hear him, well that was as painful as it was a crutch.

So when he'd finally given in, the alcohol forcing his eyelids to droop and the scanners had flicked on? When a lone figure with a clear '5' painted their backpack had come sprinting out of the darkness and towards the trenches surrounding Able? It's like every cell in his body had suddenly become a live wire.

And as the gate had opened up and Five had collapsed panting to the ground in the wreck yard he had slumped in his chair in awe. Five was alive. Five was home.

* * *

There was a knock at the door of the Comm's shack, and Sam, not sure how long he'd been sat amongst the papers, wires, monitors and marmite in his 'office' turned in his seat in time for the door to creak open. Five crept in quietly.

'It's late' They said, shuffling into the room as Sam rubbed a hand over his eyes and avoided meeting their gaze. He pushed his chair out from the desk a little, revealing to Five the near empty bottle of Jack Daniels and the dirty tumbler. '... and you've been drinking? Wow Sam, didn't peg you for a...'

The rest of the words didn't make it out of Five's mouth since within that split second Sam had spun up and out of his chair, and pulled Five into an aggressive embrace, covering their mouth with his own. His lips were tangy with the taste of whisky and crushed lazily with Five's and as quickly as it had begun it was over and he'd put the room's distance between them again.

'Sorry, I...' Sam's face was pained as he ran his hands over his eyes and through his hair.

Five wasn't really sure how to react, they hadn't really been prepared for this encounter from the word go. Hadn't been prepared for being outside the safe walls of Able after dark, hadn't been prepared for the gut wrenching disappointment of not seeing the one face they'd had in their mind the entire run back when they'd stumbled through the gates, and certainly not prepared for this. But seeing Sam standing there looking so lost, utterly lost and _wrecked_ at having sent them out and nearly losing another runner... it stirred up feelings that Five had been pushing down for a while now.

'I.. thought I'd lost you.'

There was a devastating pause, and this was probably the longest Sam had ever let a silence hang in the air without filling the space with some meaningless babble. As his mind started to click back into play and search frantically for something, _anything_ to say to make this scenario less awkward, Five was back in his arms again, warm and whole and alive. Five's arms wrapped around his neck and those lips were back on his. Five's hands were moving inside his hoody and under his shirt, and although the copious amounts of whisky had cloudy his mind until now, everything was suddenly alert, clear and focused. Steering them towards camp bed in the corner, (a recent addition from when the few minute walk to his bunk seemed way too far) Sam lost his hoody and shirt in the same instant that Five lost theirs, all the while somehow their bodies maintaining unbroken contact of skin on hot skin.

* * *

The events of that night remained unspoken about for the two following days. Five was in recovery and wasn't allowed outside the township walls, however Sam was locked in his comm's shack guiding runners on relatively unimportant missions back to back. It wasn't exactly that he was avoiding Five, but he couldn't say he'd been making the conscious effort to bump into them either. Waking up squashed up on that dirty camp bed had been strange, strange because something about waking up with Five sleeping still in his arms, their back moving gently with his chest had felt so... _right_. But even so, memories of Alice invaded his thoughts... and wasn't that exactly it; they were _memories_... Memories because being a runner was dangerous and at any moment, the unthinkable could happen, _will_ always happen... _eventually_.

And it nearly had again last night. He'd been so close to losing another one. He'd felt sick then, and without waking Five, slipped out of the Comms shack.

Five and Sam hadn't spoken since... until now. Until he sat with his head set on and Janine standing behind him, trying his utmost not to show his nerves as he spoke in his cheeriest voice;

'Ready Five? Okay, raise the gates.' The alarm sounded, and the covering fire rang out as Five set out.

'Just an easy med run today Five, nothing like as tricky as your last run, which... I'm sorry about by the way. If I'd have know thing would escalate like that I wouldn't have... well anyway, we're glad you made it back alive.' Janine stammered out in a strictly no nonsense fashion, before a stunted goodbye and leaving Sam to it.

'Well, I think she just sort of tried to apologize to you Five, congratulations, I don't think Janine's ever apologized to anyone, ever.' Sam said lightheartedly to the crack and hiss on his headset. He cleared his throat awkwardly and wondered whether it would be better or worse if Five had a mic too.

'Look Five... The other night, I know I should have talked to you sooner but I lost my nerve... I know you might be thinking that it was a mistake, and I know I was drinking but that doesn't mean...' he was faltering, what on earth was he setting out to actually say here. God he wished he could hear some response from Five, not just see their steady pace through the empty streets from the scattered cctv cameras. '..That doesn't mean that it didn't mean anything. Because it did... and it does.' He finished lamely.

Five had disappeared into the store now, and Sam wondered if any of what he'd been trying to say had come out right at all until he saw movement on one of the cameras. His heart stopped, he could have sworn that area had been clear a few seconds ago.

A smile spread across his face as on the monitor he could clearly see Five facing the camera positioned outside the store front waving and full new bottle of Jack Daniels whisky at the camera.


End file.
